2002 Mazda Spirit R RX-7 A-Spec
 

"Dear John-

I was given your name by the website owner of SpiritRX7.com

I have imported a NEW 2002 Mazda RX7, Spirit "R" Type A (#998 out of 1500). The pictures of the car are on his website. He informed me that you had emailed him about the car, and was interested in importing one for yourself?.. let me tell you it has taken me 3.5 years to get the car here with all of the importing procedures, etc...

I am an RX7 fan myself, and when I found out in 2002 that Mazda decided to discontinue production of the car, I began working on importing a new one here, to the US.

Since that time, I have gotten married, and my wife is expecting our second child in April, and the car is no longer practical in any form for us. I am in the process of selling the car, and am taking the necessary steps to make it available for any SERIOUS individuals interested in purchasing the car. If you or anyone else than you may know is interested, let me know.. I have been in touch with 2 people so far.. a man in Denver has already offered double what I paid for the car -- $90,000 ($46,000 is what I paid for the car, in US dollars).. and another man in Cypress emailed me with an offer as well...

If this is out of your price range, or you are not interested, then I am sorry to bother you, and please delete and disregard this email.

Joe"

This was just sent to me after inquiring about a photo that was taken in the U.S. of a Spirit R. After e-mailing and talking to many people, i guess the owner some how got word of me and finally contacted me about this. I don't know if this is legitamite or not but i'm highly believing it is (i just really want to believe). Well, i'm going to be contacting this person back and i'll give you all updates.

$90K?! Dude. Go through all the BS yourself too and import your own. You'll probably be able to find a good deal on a used on (in Japan) that will cost you much less than that in the end. Granted with either one you'll have to shift left-handed and have problems at toll boths. You get used to the shifting thing, but it still sucks.

Well I saw an FD on the road today...a rarity around here...

Wouldn't it be more practical to build one on your own here? I mean for less than 90K you could probably take an US spec FD and make it pretty close right?

Dang, you post really fast! Haha, it hasn't been up for five minutes. Haha, just kidding, well some enthusiast would pay $90K to get the car at this very moment i guess, i mean, i want one but would just buy one from Japan for cheaper and import it myself. But its a rare car i suppose and it might be worth it.

I suppose but it would cost so much money for all the conversions especially with the bilstein (i think thats right) suspension, torsen LSD and other stuff. And i guess you can come close to making your own but its not a true spirit r and some maybe satisfied with a look a like but i know i would want the genuine article.

EDIT: I also want to add that the spirit r has a little more powerful engine, a whole bunch of j-spec parts like bigger but thinner front pipes, different turbo's, and many other stuff located at http://spiritrx7.com/ Just go to technical to see specs.

True about the original article thing... but Shaolin has a good point... which has occurred to me as well. Why not get a USDM FD... engine in whatever condition and body in good condition. Build your own, but better. Rebuild the engine and use aftermarket upgraded cooling, FMIC and turbos (there are MANY kits out there... twin and single turbo). Add your choice of suspension components and interior. Top it off by getting the Spirit R pieces like spoiler, headlights, etc. Your FD will rock a stock Spirit R, be left-hand drive, no import worries and will probably cost you less overal.

Body 10 mm shorter due to new front bumper
Integral number plate holder
Bigger mouth in bumper
Better air ducting for intercooler, air box 2.1, oil cooler 1.8, brake cooling duct 1.6 times bigger
Lip spoiler with integral canards
Combination lamps added
New Rear wing adjustable attack angle 1~14.5 deg
Fog lamps changed 35W to 55W
New 17" wheels 6.72kg, 0.48 lighter
Tyre changed expedia S07 to potenza S07
Rear glass tinted
Mazda badge changed
Engine power up 280ps
2500 rpm less torque, 5000 rpm more torque
Front pipe thinner bigger inner diameter
Muffler changed 10% less back pressure and quieter
Turbos changed exhaust wheels smaller 51mm to 51mm
Compressor abraidable seals added
Boost up 0.62 > 0.74 bar
Bigger Radiator
Changed oil metering
25% less power steering force and check valve added
Suspension more mild damper changed from 297M to 149M
Suspension settings changed
Front toe in from 51 mm to 2 mm, angle 0.6 to 0.12
Chamber from 0.06 to -0.06
ABS program changed
Angled brake ducting
Brake backing plates changed
Wheels centre cap changed
Passenger airbag
Sports gauges smaller
Steering wheel nardi with airbag
oil pressure gauge changed to boost gauge
Rev needle changed to 6:00
ABS unit changed, 8 bit to 16 bit
EBD added
Clutch interlock added, No clutch in no engine start
Silver gauge bezels come back
White gauge faces
Lower side impact bar added

Unique 17" BBS wheels (slightly different between the RZ and the Spirit-R)
Bilstein shocks
Bigger brake disks, and cross drilled for cooling and bite
Hard type Torsen LSD 4.3 (Final)
Recaro Carbon Fibre bucket seats - RZ and Type A
Two seater only - reintroduced for the RZ and Type A
Driver's Knee Pad

Source: RX7.net.nz

Colours available for the Spirit-R:
Vintage Red
Pure White
Titanium Grey Metallic - unique colour only for the Spirit
Innocent Blue Mica
Brilliant Black


Source: RX7.net.nz

Some specs of the Spirit R

two words... Three Rotor

I thought the Spirit R is limited production version? Car is 2002 production year yet took three and a half years to import, sounds fishy to me!?!?

I got your candidate right here.

Does it bother you that this guy previously had two Spirit R's and wrecked them both? Has he driven this car? If so I'd want to take a few nice long looks in and out of the car in person. They are definitely a great and rare car, but if you are going to spend $90K be sure to do a ton of homework.

This is assuming the $90K offer is even legitimate. I'd have a hard time accepting that rarity or not, someone would be prepared to spend that much money on an RX7 which only cost $46,000 new. Hell, $90K is real supercar money, isn't it?

for that kind of money, I'd prolly have a porsche :)

In reality, you could build a sweet USDM FD including the car for 30K. as long as the body is straight, you could easily replace and upgrade everything else to beyond Spirit specs.

The issue with FD's is people due all the reliability upgrades, then realize they are a boost controller away from 300+ HP. they then proceed to buy said boost controller, and blow up the engine.

$90K? Eek. 911 all the way.

Hehe, for the price of that new, I'd get myself a Lotus Elise or Exige and perform better, better gas mileage and it'll be similar usability too.

just get a us fd and with that money u can make it perform so much better

so what who gives a fuck about performance when you're in the spirit R market, its such a niche market that its a very focused group. personally id take a spirit R over a GT2, porshces are so common and just bland and plain where as the spirit R has a special rarity, charachter and uniqueness that it far surpasses a porsche carrera. so what i can make a car that can outperform the spirit R 10x over for about 15k total but in the end i just have a modded FD, theres thousands in america, and not a spirit R. not very smart or economical to spend 90k but if you're stupid enough or rich enough, go for it. id say you could buy, import, and legalize a spirit R for more like 50k-60k though but legalizing series 7+ FD's is a big PITA.

OK, fine then - no Porsche 911.

$90K US is preciously close to all sorts of other yummy possibilities - TVR, Noble, and Aston Martin all spring to mind.

Day to day reliability and guaranteed grin factor, though, is Porsche. I don't care if the car is rare or unique - it's a car. Just give me a fun ride and don't blow up on me, is all I ask.

I think you just called a GT2 common, bland and plain. But, I want to make sure.

I think he stated that "porsches are so common and just bland and plain"

I love Porsche's but I am also into the niche cars so I say get a Spirit R, but don't get blinded by this one and think that it is your only choice. $90K is a heck of a lot of cash.

buy it and don't drive it.. Maybe Jay Leno will buy it off you for 180k in 10 years.

I'd personally get a porsche, i don't really care how many are on the road, only one that really matters is the one I'd be driving :)


MrJynx

Something seems very fishy. Judging by the price the person paid ($46K), I'll bet the car isn't US legal. A new Spirit R would have been around $40K+ right out of a Tokyo showroom back in 2002, then there's the shipping to the US, but that wouldn't include the enormous amount of work that it would take to make the car emissions and crash legal for the US. That would take another big chunk of change that isn't reflected in the $46K price.

I wouldn't be surprised if he bought the car and found he can't legally register it. The FD crowd has been trying for years to find a way to import late '99+ FDs to our US shores with no real success.

no matter how you look at it, $90k for an RX7, even the special edition final year version, is completely ridiculous.

sure now that i think about it GT2s are bland and plain, here in los angeles, people dont look twice at the cars and they aren't anything special at all, i see multiple GT2s on the street on a weekly basis, and a few 996/997 turbos daily

Yeah, the $90K thing is kinda crazy. Also, an update, i emailed him right after i got his mail and he has never replied to it. I just wanted him to send me proof (pictures and pictures of paper work and etc) that he has really got it and his location but nothing yet. Anyways, i really don't know if this is legit. or not and im still waiting on a reply. But dang, $90k.....It's just wow....